A Matter of Perspective
by RobinxRaven writer
Summary: Robin is given an opportunity to change Raven's opinion of herself. Post Spellbound.


A soft hum filled Raven's room as she concentrated her powers, holding her desk and chair in the air a few feet off the ground. If she could master the spell, she could reduce the strain using her powers put on her, but her focus was interrupted by the sound of… something squeaking. Her brow furrowed as the sound faded, and her expression relaxed as her room sank back into near silence. There was another squeak, and Raven's eyes snapped opened. Lowering the furniture back to the ground safely, she lowered her feet to the ground and was about to leave her room when she heard it again, and turned to her window now that she realized it was the source of the noise. Briskly walking over to it, she went from annoyed to confused as she saw Beastboy at the edge of her window on a lowered platform, wearing shorts, a hawaiin shirt, a baseball cap, sunglasses, and holding a squeegee in his right hand. He saw her approach through the window, gave her a wave, a shrug, and resumed cleaning.

Thoroughly confused, Raven left and headed to the common room, where she saw Starfire in the kitchen making a Tamaranean dish and Cyborg on the couch, flipping through channels on the TV. Starfire saw her first and waved. "Hello, Raven. Care to try a kliffian baknar? It's a desert that is close to chocolate pudding here on Earth."

"No, I'm good." Raven didn't like pudding or Starfire's Tamaranean food at the best of times, so combining them had even less appeal. "Does anyone know why Beastboy is cleaning the windows?" She asked, turning to Cyborg when he stopped changing channels and turned around to look at her.

"Perhaps he is doing the 'spring cleaning'. He was vacuuming the lower floors earlier." Starfire said.

"Robin's making him do it." Cyborg answered.

Raven crossed her arms in front of her chest and frowned. "Why?"

Cyborg shrugged his shoulders and turned around while raising his hands. "I don't know. But Robin's down in the gym if you wanna ask him." When Raven turned on her heel he called out, "Hey, don't say anything that's gonna make him change his mind about giving Beastboy chores. I finally got the big screen to myself."

Rolling her eyes, Raven headed to the elevator and stepped in, hitting the second floor button and tapping her foot as the doors and closed and she descended. Normally, she would've been satisfied after being given an answer, but her curiosity wasn't satiated. Beastboy usually complained about having to do the most basic chore of dishwashing, so window washing and vacuuming under Robin's orders were definitely things he wouldn't do on his own, and it was weird that Robin was telling him to do such things in the first place. Arriving a few moments later, she headed into the gym and immediately spotted Robin in the far corner, striking at the blue punching bag there. When she got close and he didn't acknowledge her, she cleared her throat loudly and asked, "What are you making Beastboy clean the Tower for?"

Robin turned around and scoffed lightly. "Because of what he said to you." He said in a 'that should be obvious tone' before turning back to the punching bag and resuming his attacks.

"What he said to me?" Raven asked.

"He called you creepy." Robin replied immediately, not stopping his strikes.

Raven glanced at the ground; it had been a few days since Malchior had been sealed away again, and things had gone back to a normal everyday routine for the Titans. "He was just being a jerk." She said in a casual tone upon looking up and sensing the underlying anger in Robin's emotions.

"It's one thing for you two to disagree with one another, it's another thing for him to push you into the arms of a villain. And don't-" Robin held up one hand to stop her from responding. "-Act like it's all your fault. We both know Malchior was only able to manipulate you because Beastboy was the one who hurt you."

"He said he was sorry, and I forgave him." Raven told him, since apparently the fact that she and Beastboy were getting along now wasn't enough for him.

"Saying 'I'm sorry' doesn't change the fact that he put you in danger, and it doesn't change the fact that the Tower was heavily damaged because of it." Robin said in a strained voice.

"He was just telling the truth, making him-"

She stopped when she felt Robin's anger rise and he struck the punching bag with a particularly hard blow and loud grunt. He sighed, closing his eyes and looking up at the ceiling before turning around to Raven. "He wasn't telling you the truth about anything, Raven, he was telling you what his opinion of you was, and I _can't believe_ you'd let the most immature person on the team dictate how you think of yourself." Robin shook his head and took a couple of steps toward her. "Take it from someone who was taken in at the age of ten, dressed like this-" Robin gestured to his outfit, "-and put in the line of fire by a man who spends his nights dressed as a giant bat: You're not creepy." Putting his hands on her shoulders, Robin asked, "Do you want to know what I think of you?"

Unsure as to where her voice had gone, Raven just gave a small, uncertain nod as she looked up at him.

"I think you're incredible." Robin said with a smile. "You do realize that you're the only person on the team with magical powers? That's _awesome_. Starfire's alien powers are normal where she comes from, me and Cyborg have a lot of incredible tech at our disposal, but you're the only person on the team with _actual _magic at your disposal. And maybe it's not the greatest thing in the world that you have to reign in your emotions because of it, but it just make the times when you do show emotion that much more meaningful. And being introverted doesn't make you creepy." Robin took his hands from her shoulders and started making a list with his fingers as he continued, "You've got a great sense of humour, you're attractive, you're incredibly smart and clever, you're a great friend… I could list basically everything I know about you and then continue that list with the things I don't know." Robin lowered his hands and shrugged. "You might not be perfect Raven, but you're a far cry from creepy."

Looking down at the 'R' on his chest and suddenly realizing how close he was to her, Raven scoffed. "So you really don't think anything about me or anything I do is creepy?" She asked softly.

"Hmm…" Robin raised his hand and placed a hand under Raven's chin, gently titling her head up to look at him. "Nope." He answered honestly when her eyes flicked between his.

It was probably the light tone of voice he used that cracked her facade and caused her to smile, but it was definitely the feeling of joy she felt coming off him that caused Raven to close the distance and wrap her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug and closing her eyes. Robin tucked her head under his chin and smiled at the ceiling, enjoying how soft Raven felt in his arms before she pulled back. "Thanks for that." She said, her voice returning closer to its usual monotone. Robin nodded, and Raven gave a wave before leaving, pulling her hood over her head as she stepped into the elevator.

She didn't press any buttons, instead taking a moment to calm herself as her emotions rose to the surface. It wasn't like people, even her friends, gave her honest compliments like that or tried to change her mind about herself often, and especially after what had gone down in the last few days, it had been a nice thing to hear. If nothing else had come of this, the next time she was feeling doubtful about herself, she could always turn to Robin for reassurance.

~The End~

A/N

I've never liked the ending to Spellbound. It just didn't sit right with me that the guy who caused the problem is the one being given a pat on the back at the end. It would've made more sense to put Starfire in to reassure Raven since Starfire and Raven swapped stories in the body switch episode, or Robin since Robin and Raven are actually close, and honestly even Cyborg would've made a better choice to cheer up Raven. Beastboy insulting Raven at the end of the episode when literally anyone else could've told her why Beastboy's insult was dumb (especially when said insult is what triggered the downfall in the first place) was itself a dumb move on the part of the writers. But I've never been able to write a rebuttal to that scene that didn't just end up as mostly a hit piece on Beastboy's character, so I hope I was able to finally write a better alternative here. Let me know what you think.


End file.
